Comox Valley Record

Comox Valley Global Awareness Network hosts conversation series

A PROFESSIONAL AGROLOGIST, Arzeena Hamir will speak on Wednesday at the Evergreen Seniors Lounge. / PHOTO SUBMITTED

The Comox Valley Global Awareness Network will hold the first conversation of a three-part conversation series Jan. 9.

A discussion called From Hyperlocal to Global Food Citizen takes place at 7 p.m. at the Evergreen Seniors Lounge at the Filberg Centre in Courtenay. To spark this conversation, Arzeena Hamir will present some comments, ideas and share some of her rich experience.

Hamir is a professional agrologist who specializes in organic food production. She has a bachelors degree in crop science from the University of Guelph and a masters degree in sustainable agriculture from the University of London in England.

Arzeena worked abroad for many years as a CUSO volunteer in Thailand and as a researcher in Jamaica, India, and Bangladesh. She was the staff agrologist for West Coast Seeds in the late '90s and ran her own seed company, Terra Viva Organics.

More recently Arzeena was the co-ordinator of the Richmond Food Security Society where she oversaw a number of community projects which included a proposal to the City of Richmond to declare itself a GMO-free Zone.

In 2010, in conjunction with Kwantlen University, Arzeena helped to launch the Richmond Farm School. She sits on the board of the BC Food Systems Network and runs Amara Farm, a 25-acre farm in Courtenay.

Organizers will request a small donation, which is entirely up to you, at the door in the hope that they can continue to offer more conversations. Refreshments will be available.